Calls for Ann's death to result in a 'kinder more respectful' politics
A Devon academic says with the voting age being lowered there needs to be a focus on teaching young people about how to debate
Last updated 17th Jul 2026
A week on from Police starting a murder investigation into the death of Ann Widdecombe. the leader of Reform in Devon says politics needs to be less toxic and more respectful.
Counter-terrorism police are looking at whether there was a 'targeted attack” at the 78 year old's home on Dartmoor - with police called to a Tiverton Town Council meeting where a Reform councillor suffered 'abuse and aggression', just three days later.
County Councillor and Devon Reform leader Michael Fife Cook said: "I knew Ann, not incredibly well but we used to talk whenever she was at a show or something.
"I always found her to be a very gentle person, and that might sound strange when you see her on TV, but I always thought that she was a kindly person.
“I wouldn't say that I agreed with all of her views, but that is part of politics.
"Her death has affected a lot of us as - at the end of the day - she's a 78 year old lady and what could threat could she be to anybody?
"What makes it worse is the fools on the internet, who kind of almost say she deserved it. Have we not lost so much of our humanity treating people like this?
"It has brought home how dangerous it is, even being a councillor. Many of my female councillors obviously are concerned.
"We have councillors who lived in terraced houses and bump into people, go out to meetings and it's not always safe for them. I have a councillor who's had to live with bullying for over a year now.
"The trouble is that the council can't do anything about it as it's beyond our authority to deal with, and the police seem incapable of dealing with it as well.
“Is this really how we want our representatives to have to function under all this hate all the time? No, we are supposed to be the best of us."
James Goulbourn, Associate Head of School for International Relations and Politics at the University of Plymouth, said: "We do see problems across the political spectrum around racism, antisemitism and homophobia, transphobia and misogyny - and rather than being perceived to get better they are viewed as getting worse.
"What we need is things like more politics in schools. It means that children would understand how a political system works, how a democracy functions and how to be heard in a loud world. That's especially important as the voting age changes and as voters get younger, we need people to learn how to disagree politely.”
Currently Parliament is looking at whether the voting age could be lowered for the next general election by 2029.
Mr Goulbourn added: “Maybe having things like debate clubs in schools or even things like hustings where it's about asking questions and agreeing and disagreeing and sharing those things – in a space that allows for that disagreement.”
It comes as Kemi Badenoch said she has received multiple death threats as a politician but stressed that MPs are there to provide the country with security rather than the other way round.
The opposition leader said she was worried about the nature of conversation around MPs’ security sparked by the murder of veteran politician Ann Widdecombe.
She said it is a “fact of life” that those in the public eye are exposed to more threats.
Reform UK has called for extra cash to be allocated for MPs’ security after the killing of the former Tory minister, who was a senior figure in Nigel Farage’s party at the time of her death.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said more must be done to “defend our democracy”, while his incoming successor Andy Burnham has also said a “serious review” is needed into MPs’ security.
Mrs Badenoch told the Press Association on Thursday she had received multiple death threats but that her party is “more concerned about national security than anything else”.
Asked if the security of politicians is a cross-party issue, she said: “All politicians get targeted.
“I myself have received multiple death threats.
“In fact, police have arrested someone just in the last few weeks about this.
“So it is an issue that is at the forefront of my mind.
“But I am worried that we are talking a lot about MPs’ security.
“The country is not there to provide us with security.
“We are here to provide the country security: national security, energy security, economic security.”
Mrs Badenoch pointed to past assassinations of Conservative MPs in IRA car bombings, and the Brighton bombing that targeted the Tory party conference in 1984.
She said: “MPs have often been targets.
“I remember Conservative MPs like Airey Neave and Ian Gow, you know, being killed by the IRA.
“We had our party conference bombed.
“Sir Anthony Berry was killed.
“Norman Tebbit’s wife was maimed.
“Many Conservatives had serious injuries.
“It is a fact of life that public life means that you are exposed to more threats.
“But I want people to know that Conservatives are more concerned about national security than anything else.”
Miss Widdecombe was killed in a “targeted attack”, counter-terrorism police have said.
Her death follows the murders of Conservative MP Sir David Amess in 2021 and Labour’s Jo Cox in 2016.